Meet the new English Department faculty!

Kansas State University’s Department of English was delighted to welcome three new tenure-track faculty members this fall: Charlotte Hyde, Anuja Madan, and Tom Sarmiento. We caught up with all three of them recently to discover what makes them tick as readers, writers, and human beings…

Charlotte Hyde

Assistant Professor / Graduate Faculty

Ph.D. in English, Rhetoric and Composition, 2016, Purdue University

Field of Interest: Technical Communication; Workplace Communication; Gender and Minority Rhetorics; Game Studies

What books are currently on your nightstand?

Seveneves by Neil Stephenson

Play: How it shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown

The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander

What was your favorite book as a child?Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

If you hadn’t become an English professor, what profession would you have liked to pursue?
LEGO® Master Builder

What sound or noise do you love?
The forest/campus noises

What was your first impression of Kansas/ Manhattan/Kansas State University?
The people are so welcoming and helpful!

What was your favorite book as a child?
I wouldn’t be able to isolate one favorite book! I loved L.M. Montgomery’s Emily and Anne series and was a huge fan of Agatha Christie’s novels.

What’s the last book you read for pleasure?
Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely’s All American Boys.

If you hadn’t become an English professor, what profession would you have liked to pursue?
I had seriously contemplated getting an advanced degree in Education and working in education policy organizations, but decided to become an English professor after thoroughly enjoying my first experience teaching literature.

What books are currently on your nightstand?
M.L. Stedman’s The Light Between Oceans; Janice Pariat’s Seahorse

Outside of your professional life, what achievement are you most proud of?
One memorable achievement goes back to my time at an alternative school in Delhi called Mirambika, where we didn’t have a fixed curriculum. In Grade 6, a documentary film-maker couple worked with my class on making a film, in which we also acted. Under their guidance, we did everything from the storyboarding, scriptwriting, cinematography to the editing. It was a lot of fun and The Friendly Alien was recognized as the first film in India made by children.